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February 24, 2004GRAYLING: Mercy to raise funds for E.R. expansionCurrent facility was built in 1978ByRecord-Eagle staff writer GRAYLING - Boom times at Mercy Hospital Grayling have local and federal officials seeking money to alleviate emergency room overcrowding. Hospital officials had sought $7 million in federal funding over the next several years to help finance expansion of its emergency department. The funding, however, was not included in a federal spending bill passed in December. Hospital officials want to expand emergency room facilities because of population and tourism growth in Mercy's four-county service area, including Crawford, Roscommon, Oscoda and Montmorency counties. The current emergency room facility was built in 1978 and is 3,560 square feet. The emergency room was designed to serve 10,000 patients per year, but now serves over twice that figure annually. The hospital's proposal is to expand its emergency services wing, giving staff and patients 8,974 square feet. The hospital recently completed a feasibility study to raise funds for the expansion and will launch a capital campaign within the next year, said Mercy Hospital spokeswoman Mary Fox. Hospital physicians and staff won the Trinity Health Excellence and Innovation Award in 2002, despite the cramped conditions. "Amazingly, and to the credit of our staff, we've won awards for our excellence and quality despite the fact that we our overcrowded but at some point we just can't keep delivering more and more and more care in insufficient space," Fox said. Fox said the hospital has garnered support from Washington and officials at Camp Grayling, since the hospital is the main source for emergency care for the troops. "Anything that requires a high level of care that they can't take care of in their temporary medical unit, they rely on this place completely," Fox said. Chani Wiggins, spokeswoman for Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, said Stupak considers the emergency room funds "a very important project" and he intends to push for the money in fiscal year 2005.
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